Honey-Glazed Roasted Harvest Vegetables

INGREDIENTS:

·         4 parsnips, peeled and sliced 1/2 inch thick

·         4 carrots, peeled and sliced 1/2 inch thick

·         4 turnips, peeled and cubed 1/2 inch thick

·         2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed 1/2 inch thick

·         2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cubed 1/2 inch thick

·         1/2 cup honey

·         1/2 cup oil (vegetable, canola, or your favorite)

·         2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

·         2 tsp powdered ginger

·         Salt and freshly ground pepper

·         1 or 2 dashes of Chinese 5 Spice

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 425°.

Toss vegetables with oil, honey and spices.

Divide into 2 large baking dishes or roasting pans and cover with foil.

Roast for 40 minutes, stirring half way through cooking time.

Cook until the vegetables are tender.

Remove the foil and roast for 10 minutes longer, until glazed.

Honey-Glazed Roasted Harvest Vegetables

Bloody Mary Soup (For Halloween)

This is just a fun name for a kicked up tomato soup that is great with "Grizzled Cheese SandWitches" during the Halloween season.  The Worcestershire and Tobasco can be increased or decreased to suite your taste.
Ingredients:
   1 can Tomato Soup + 1 can milk
   1 can Tomato Bisque + 1 can milk
   1 can Diced Tomatoes
   2 Tbls Worcestershire (or more or lesst to taste)
   6 drops of Tabasco Sauce (more or less to taste)
Directions:
   Simply mix all the ingredients in a pan and heat over medium until it reaches desired temperature.

   Serve with grilled cheese sandwiches or your favorite crackers.
   Once soup is hot, you can also hold at "keep warm" temp in your crock pot.
   NOTE:  If you want to try this with vodka, substitute the milk with V8 juice or water.

Crystallized Ginger

Crystallized ginger is one of the main ingredients in my ginger snap recipe below.  If you buy it in the store, it can be very expensive...over 5 dollars per ounce.  Save money by making it yourself for just pennies an ounce.  You can find fresh ginger root at your local Asain market.  Crystallized ginger can settle an upset tummy or just be a zesty, sweet snack.  Finely minced, it gives a real kick to pumpkin pie and those tasty ginger snaps.

Ingredients:

·        1 cup peeled ginger cut into 1/4 inch dice
           (or cut 1/8 in thick slices, if you prefer)

·        3 cups water

·        1 cup sugar

·        Additional 1/2 cup of sugar to coat pieces(optional)

Preparation:

Bring water to a boil.

Add the ginger pieces and sugar.

Cover and reduce heat to simmer for five minutes.

Remove from heat and allow it to sit for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.  

Spread ginger in a glass baking dish.

Place the dish in the oven until ginger is almost dry but still chewy.

Remove from oven and allow it to cool for about 10 minutes.

Toss ginger with additional sugar in a zip lock bag.

Shake off excess sugar and spread out on cookie sheet
Air dry for several hours

Store the crystallized ginger in an airtight container for up to two months.

Friendship Bread

Friendship Bread - Dough Starter Recipe and Bread Recipe

This is a great recipe that is very versitile.  One of our neighbors gave me a starter and a loaf of bread as a thank you gift for watching their puppy dog over a weekend.  The bread was absolutely delightful.  I tended the starter as called for in the recipe for days 1 through 10 and instead of loaf pans, I use my patterned bundt pans when it was time to make the bread.  The sugared pan gives this bread a wonderful crispy crunch to the outside of the moist, tender inside. 

 

DOUGH STARTER RECIPE     

      DO NOT USE ANY METAL UTENSILS.

Use a glass bowl and wooden spoon.
DO NOT REFRIGERATE

     Ingredients

·    1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

·    1/4 cup warm water (110° F/45° C)

·    1 cups all-purpose flour, divided

·    1 cups white sugar, divided

·    1 cups warm milk (110°F/45°C), divided

Directions
    In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand 10 minutes.

    In a 2 quart container (glass), combine 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar.  

    Mix thoroughly or flour will lump when milk is added.

    Slowly stir in 1 cup milk and dissolved yeast mixture.

    Place in a 1 gallon zip lock bag and let stand at room temperature.
    Mixture will be bubbly.

    This begins Day 1.

TENDING ROUTINE

Day 1 to Day 4

“Burp” bag (release the air) reseal and knead bag several times.

Day 5:    Stir in…

·      1 cup flour

·      1 cup sugar

·      1 cup milk

Day 6 to Day 9

“Burp” bag (release the air) reseal and knead bag several times.  

Day 10

·      Place the starter in a non-metal mixing bowl.

·      Stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk.

·      Using 4 zip lock bags, place a cup of the starter in each bag.
·      Keep one bag for yourself.
·      Give the other three to friends along with the recipe. 
·      Now, begin the Day 1 through Day 10 routine.

·      There should be about 2 cups of starter left in the bowl.
That’s what you will use to make your bread recipe below.

BREAD RECIPE
    DO NOT USE ANY METAL UTENSILS.
    Use a non-metal bowl and plastic or wooden spoon.

    Ingredients

·      1 to 2 cups of dough starter left in the mixing bowl,

·      1 cup oil

·      3 large eggs

·      1/2 cup milk

·      1 teaspoon lemon flavoring

·      3 Tablespoons poppy seeds

·      2 cups all-purpose flour

·      1 cup sugar

·      1 large box instant lemon pudding powder (or 2 small)

·      1/2 teaspoon salt

·      1/2 teaspoon baking soda

·      1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Directions
      Preheat oven to 325° F

Grease 2 loaf pans - (I use cooking spray and bundt pans). 

Then dust the inside of the pans with regular sugar.

Combine the above ingredients and mix well.

Pour equal amounts of mixture into the 2 greased and sugared pans.

Bake at 325°F for 1 hour if using loaf pans (40 to 50 minutes for bundt pans) or until knife inserted comes out clean.  Cool for about 15 minutes and remove from pans.

VARIATIONS:

Variations are as endless as your imagination:

·      Coconut Pudding, add coconut and well drained pineapple tidbits

·      Chocolate pudding, add chocolate chips and nuts

·      Banana pudding, add some ripe, mashed bananas

·      Vanilla pudding, add 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 cup nuts and dust pans with
cinnamon sugar

Linda’s Sausage and Fresh Herb Frittata

I came up with this recipe because I wanted something different for breakfast.  The fresh parsley and herbs are the keys to the wonderful taste of this frittata.  It is also, versatile so you can substitute ingredients and change up the recipe to suit your personal taste.  You can also make just half the recipe and prepare it in a smaller skillet if you don’t need so many servings.  But, if you have leftovers, it makes a great cold snack or try it as a sandwich.

Prep Time: 20 mins       Cook Time: 27 mins       Yield: 10 Servings

Ingredients

·  5 Tbls. butter or olive oil ·  4 slices of ground sausage (turkey or pork) ·  1 finely chopped red bell pepper (yellow or orange will do also) ·  1 medium chopped onion ·  1 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms (use your favorite type) ·  2 tsp minced garlic (1 or 2 cloves)

·  1 cup milk (if you can’t use milk, try water, broth or water with a couple of Tbls of white wine.) ·  1 cup minced fresh herbs        (I use mostly parsley with a Tbls of any one or two other herbs: dill, basil, tarragon) ·  2 dozen large eggs ·  1/2 cup goat cheese ·  salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat a large 12 to 14 inch skillet with 3 tablespoons butter or olive oil over medium heat.

Add sausage and break up into small pieces.  Then add onions, peppers, garlic and mushrooms.  Sauté until meat is cooked and veggies are soft.  (This mixture can be prepared ahead and stored in an airtight container.)

While the sausage and veggies are cooking, break eggs into a large bowl.  Whisk eggs until all yolks are broken.  Now whisk in milk and goat cheese.

Stir remaining butter/olive oil into the skillet (on medium heat).  Spread meat and veggies evenly over skillet surface.

Add the egg mixture and cook undisturbed for 5-8 minutes or until the bottom is firm.

Transfer skillet to oven and bake until firm, around 15-20 minutes.

Remove from oven and serve hot or room temperature.  Leftovers make great sandwiches or cold snacks.

Variations:

If you don’t have fresh herbs, you can use dried herbs and add them while the vegetables and meat are cooking in the skillet.  Use 1 or 2 Tbls of parsley and a 1 teaspoon of the other herbs.

Substitute 4 slices of bacon, fried crispy and crumbled instead of the sausage.

Michael’s Molasses Ginger Snaps

One of my high school friends asked for a ginger snap recipe, so I thought I would name this recipe in his honor.  After reviewing several dozen recipes, I picked the best ingredients from each of them and came up with this special cookie, just for him.  You can bake these cookies to suit your taste, from chewy to a crispy snap all the way through. Try these with just a “schmear” of soft cream cheese and a touch of orange marmalade if you want to be really naughty.  Wash them down with a tall glass of milk or a cup of hot tea.

Prep Time: 40 min      Cook Time: 15 min       Makes about 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon Chinese Five Spice

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (1/4 teaspoon table salt)

Wet Ingredients

1 cup dark brown sugar

2/3 cup (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup molasses

1 large egg, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger

2 Tablespoons candied ginger, very finely chopped

Other Ingredients

1 cup regular sugar to roll cookies in after shaping.

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Whisk dry ingredients  -  flour, baking soda, ginger, cardamom, clove and salt together in a medium mixing bowl.

Cream wet ingredients  -  Use a stand mixer on low speed with the paddle attachment to cream the brown sugar and butter together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the molasses, egg, vanilla and fresh ginger and beat on medium for about 1 minute. Then, add the very finely chopped crystallized ginger and beat on medium for about 1 minute to combine.  Finally, add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until well combined.  The dough should be pretty stiff.

Lightly grease a cookie sheet with a little butter or margarine.  Using the palms of your hand, fashion dough into 1 inch balls.  Roll each ball in a small dish filled with regular sugar.  Place on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.  Put cookie sheet on the middle rack in the pre-heated oven.

Bake time ranges from 12 to 15 minutes, depending on the crunch you want your cookie to have. Bake for 12 minutes to get soft cookies, 13 minutes produces a crisp outside and soft inside or 15 minutes if you want a hard, crispy snap all the way through your cookies.  

Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up 10 days, if they last that long.

NOTE:  If you like to bake fresh cookies often or just a few at a time, drop the cookie dough on a cookie sheet and freeze them.  Once they are frozen you can place them in an airtight container or a resealable bag and store them in the freezer.  When you are ready to bake them, just take them directly from the freezer to the preheated oven and bake as above.

Quick Coconut Macaroons

This is just quick and easy....What else can I say?  Except....they don't last long around our place.

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 can Eagle Brand Milk (sweeten condensed milk)

5 1/2 c. shredded coconut (1 large bag)

1 tsp. vanilla flavoring

DIRECTIONS: 

Blend together with spoon, milk, coconut and vanilla.

NOTE:  Don’t get mixture too wet. Some brands of coconut are very moist and macaroons will not set up well.  Be sure mixture is firm.  (Add more coconut or a little less sweeten condensed milk to accomplish this.)  

Drop by spoonfuls about 1 inch apart onto well greased baking sheet.   Bake at 350 degrees until a delicate brown - about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from pan at once

These are ideal seasonal treats when tinted with the appropriate food coloring!

Bananas Foster a la Diva

This is one of my favorite recipes.  What is better than bananas in bubbly dark brown sugar, butter, rum, pecans and spices, served over ice cream?  Quick, easy, elegant.  Your friends will think you are a genius.  This recipe serves 6 and only takes about 12 minutes.

Ingredients:

1 stick butter

1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar

3 or 4 tablespoons rum

2  teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon Chinese Five Spice

4 or 6 bananas, peeled and sliced into rounds

1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans (optional)

Vanilla ice cream

Directions:

In a large, deep skillet over medium heat, melt butter.  Stir in brown sugar, vanilla and cinnamon.

When mixture starts bubbling, place bananas (and pecans) in the skillet.  Cook until bananas are heated through, about 2 minutes.  

Remove from heat and add rum.  Use a long grill lighter to ignite the rum.  Gently roll skillet from side to side to distribute flame.  When flaming stops, serve immediately over vanilla ice cream.

Tips:  I usually have someone dip the ice cream while I do the cooking.  Then I like to lower the lights in the dining room just before igniting the rum because it has such a beautiful blue flame!  My guests love it.

What Is This?

Well, the Old Fluffy Diva is starting this blog for all my friends and neighbors who follow my regular weekend menu posts.....in particular my Sunday evening dinner parties.  I'll post my recipes, stories, hints, and treats on the blog so you can find them quickly and easily.

Enjoy, my friends.